SHOP

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January 2007

January 31, 2007

I know. It's nearly Thursday and here I am talking about last weekend. What does one do on a Friday night when you remember that you've been invited to a 2-year old's birthday party the very next day? You pull out Hillary's bunny pattern and make a bunny, of course. I ordered this pattern...gosh, maybe 6 months ago? It's been sitting, unopened waiting to be made for someone special. I was so glad I remembered that I had it. And little Eliot, I think she liked it (once we were able to pry it out of Henry's hands). I learned a few things about myself while making this bunny:

1) I don't have any plain fabric, hence the pale blue floral face & body for this bunny. Note to self: stock up on some solid color fabrics.

2) Stuffing the ears, legs & arms are not my specialty. Maybe my fingers are too fat. Who knows. It's crazy the amount of filling that goes into one of these little beauties. You just keep stuffing and stuffing and stuffing....who knew? Now I know. But it was worth every single stuff.

I guess that's all I realized about myself. Oh yeah, and how grateful I am that Hillary was able to bail me out last minute making me look like some genius sewing machine. Hillary- I think you need to start collecting royalties. Saturday was actually a really great day. It was raining outside and the boys were taking a nap. It was just me, the rain, the bunny and "Something's Gotta Give". That movie is such a crack up. I forgot how much I loved it. Have you seen it? You should. I think my dream kitchen is in that movie. That house. Gads. I would LOVE to have a kitchen just like that when I grow up. I remember seeing it in the theatre and then going "Hey Wait!! Those were Barefoot Contessa Cookbooks on the counter!!" Then, I realized that the shop they go to in the movie was the actual Barefoot Contessa store (now defunct). Very cool. Very funny movie... great movie to netflix for the weekend if you haven't seen it.

We went up to Westwood Village last Friday night for what we like to call our $10 date. I like Westwood Village because it reminds me a lot of Boston. Lots of shops, squeezed in tight, great restaurants and of course, some very favorite local joints. I don't go there very often, usually I'm just driving through when I drop Chris off at UCLA. But, we get up there every now & again for a mini-date night which consists of a Burger from In-n-Out and ice-cream from Diddy Reese.

Diddy Reese is home of the $1.00 make-your-own ice cream sandwich. Well, they aren't $1.00 anymore. They had to raise their prices last summer. Now they are $1.25. There was a boycott. We almost stopped going. Well, not really. They've got about a dozen or so cookies to choose from and so you pick your cookie of choice along with ice-cream and voila.

Your very own, custom-made for you and only you, ice cream sandwich. A big-time hit with the locals here. And a very big hit with us. After some trial & error, I think I've found the magic combination. (You've got to try out all your options, right?) I think the peanut butter cookie is the way to go. They are usually the softest, and as far as the ice cream, well you really can't go wrong with any of their flavors. Simply Delicious and my idea of a perfect date night.

This weekend the valentine tree is coming out. Stop laughing. This is a new thing for us this year, and there's a little story to go with it, which I'll share when I post. I've been working on a few other things which have been giving me a bit of grief. Why can't things just work out the first time? Such is life, I guess.

Don't forget: Friday is Groundhog's Day! We'll be watching the movie here. Over and over. Oh Bill Murray. You are such a genius.

January 29, 2007

Let this be known: this is the first time I have ever
taken a picture of myself. My first self-portrait. Just me & the
camera & the flourescent lights of the white bathroom before church
today. Eeek. Not comfortable & not sure I want to do it again.
Ever. I don't enjoy having myself photographed and if you'd noticed,
out of the 150ish pictures I uploaded onto Flickr, I'm only in 1 of
them. Maybe 2. That's no mistake. The photo's of Morgs are just hard to come by. I am usually the photographer of the family. Not the photographee. I don't like the way I look in photographs and so
I have basically put the kaibash on the whole Morgan being
photographed situation. I just feel better about myself when I don't
have to see the photos. Don't get me wrong, I have no problems with the
way I look. I think I look fine, really. Just not photographed.

I can trace all of this back to the begining. Which
all things usually can be, right? Back in 2000, 4 months after moving
to Boston, the retna's in both of my eyes detached. I lost a majority
of the vision in my right eye and now it's quite grey & cloudy and
kind of warped. Not my eye. My vision. That would be funny. So, they did an emergency operation on my right eye. They say if you wait too long, you could go completely blind. They needed to wait for my right eye to heal
before they could operate on my left. So I wore a patch, got called
"Captain Morgan", received a bottle of "Captain Morgan's" (which still
sits dusty & unopened because we aren't alchohol drinkers, but you
gotta hang onto it for memory's sake, right?), became a pretty bad
driver (can you believe they still let me drive?...One eyed??) and lots
of other hilarious oddities that can only happen to one-eyed people.

About 2 weeks later, the patch was removed and a
second surgery was performed on my left eye to try to salvage that
vision. Each surgery was several hours long and I'll spare you the
details of anesthetics not working, feeling them cut into my eye &
having to watch them put needles in my eye. I guess I didn't just spare
you the details. Sorry. The surgeries entailed wierd things like freezing my
eye & placing bands around it to change the shape of it. It was
at this point that they realized the first surgery that was done on my
right eye, didn't take. They would need to do a third operation. 3
operations in about 8 weeks. You don't realize the life-long effect something like this can have. Like when you get pregnant 5 years later and the OB's are terrified to have you give birth because they don't want you pushing and putting any pressue on your eyes. These were things, that my 24 year-old self wasn't thinking about at the time.

I've currently got about a dozen suchers wrapped around each of my eyes, holding them together. Sometimes they roll out, but I just stick
them back in. It makes for great Halloween fun. Scares the kids. Good times. The biggest side effect of the surgerys, was that my eyes have become incredibly sensitive to sunlight. Incredibly sensitive. Just being outside feels like starring directly into the sun. I can't drive without sunglasses, and have them on almost all the time when I'm out & about. So, this means that photos of me taken outside just never work. I can't make an even remotely normal face if I am not wearing sunglasses. They get all squinty and start watering. "Must try with all thy strength to make a normal face while feeling like staring into the sun...." In those moments, I usually feel like the photo of me is going to turn out looking like this guy. Forget having family photo's taken outside. "Who's the weird and only one in the photo wearing their sunglasses?" Ahem. That would be me. And we all know that photo's taken indoor are usually crap. Flashes are no good. I stay away from them at all cost. I do need to say this, though. That I do feel incredibly blessed. Blessed that my left eye has completely compensated for all the lost vision in my right eye. It's amazing how our bodies do that. Blessed that I can still see. I think it could have been so much worse, and I'm grateful that it wasn't.

So, I think that's where it all began. What's the point of having a bunch of photo's of me in my sunglasses? There is no point. So I happily stopped being in them. Well not entirely, but photos of me are far & few between. But this morning, I thought, I'm going to try it. I'm going to try a self-portrait. It's not so easy, you know. The pictures are taken facing the mirror, and it's hard to try to get a picture of your face without having a big camera blocking the view. Plus, because the lighting is fluorescent, and I wasn't looking into the camera to see if everything was focused, they came out fuzzy. But I kind of like that. Chris said that on the top photo, you can't even tell that it's me. But I think you can. And he said it looks like I had botox. Which I did. Okay not really. I don't know what I was doing with my lips. I'm just not going to think about it. I think I was concentrating so much on trying to hold the camera still that I forgot to "reign-in" my bottom lip. But I do like that photo. I like that it's fuzzy. Of course, these have all been photo-shopped. Fluorescent lit bathrooms don't always make for the most attractive photos (who takes pictures of themselves in the bathroom anyway)? I am always so curious to see what fellow bloggers look like. So here you have it. I am going to go crawl under a rock now.

Edited to say that if you've never taken a self portrait, I'm challenging you to do so. Yes, it's awkward. Yes, you are praying that someone doesn't walk in on you mid-portrait (how embarrassing!) But do it. It's my challenge to you!

January 25, 2007

We used to make these as kids, back in the day when they had that crazy fruit striped gum.
Remember that? They worked so well for these, because their little
paper wrappers were striped, making these planes look pretty darn official. I had no luck in finding any so I cut up my own cardstock & wrapped it around the gum. Henry is completely obsessed with all modes of transportation (as I think most little ones are?) He is in the phase now where he constantly has a little Thomas train clutched in his hands. At all times. That's another story. I don't know why we didn't make these sooner. He loved watching me assemble these and was able to help put the smarties through the rubberband, not bad for 20 months! So huddle in your little ones (and big ones, too!) and have fun making this easy craft together!

Here's what you'll need:

Smarties (Fizzers for you Aussies!)

Life Savers

Sticks of gum with the white paper or I cut up some polka-dot paper & wrapped it around the gum.

Rubberbands

First Step: Put a rubberband through the center of two lifesavers and place the outside of the rubberbands around two fingers.Second Step: Place a pack of smarties in between the two lifesavers and inside of the rubberband.

Third Step: One finger at a time, insert a stick of gum where your fingers are holding onto the rubberband and slowly slide each finger out. Voila!

You can make an airplane mobile by tying these to something circular and letting them hang a various lengths. There you have it! An edible airplane.

You'd better watch out though, or your little monkey just might do this when you back is turned for 2 seconds:

I was an uploading machine last night as I finally decided to join the ranks of Flickr. I still have absolutely no clue at all what I am doing, but hey, I was able to upload over 150 pics. I don't even want to tell you what time I went to bed. I came to the realization that over half of the pictures were of Henry. Yes, I am one of those Moms. Read it and weep baby.

While on the uploading frenzy, I also added 3 paintings/prints to my Etsy shop. I've really neglected my new litte shop and I have promised to put at least 2 new paintings up every week along with other fun creations. I can do it! I will just keep telling myself that....

January 21, 2007

David Lebovitz is hosting this months Sugar High Friday,
and the theme is "Chocolate by Brand". The chocolate that I used for these
Coconut Patties was Ghiradelli's Semi-Sweet Chocolate. I know, nothing
fancy. I buy it at the market across the street in these decent sized
blocks and so for me, it's convenience and it's tried & true. I use
it when making ganache, chop it up into chunks for cookies, or grate
it onto ice-cream or cakes. I wish I could say that I branched out
& bought this delicatable chocolate, but I went for the old
stand-by. I went for something that I already knew I liked and that
would more than likely work just fine. This was my first time trying this recipe and
while it didn't dissapoint, I do think there are some things I
would do differently next time.

I decide to try this recipe (which
hails from the "Spago: Chocolate" cookbook) simply because I love coconut and chocolate. It's called "Florida Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Patties" because when the author of the cookbook was 14, her family moved to Florida from Massachusetts. During the drive down, her Mother bought a box of coconut patties. They couldn't get enough of them and this recipe is fashioned after that sweet memory!

Make the coconut filling: In a medium heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, whisk together the confectioner's sugar, butter, egg white and salt until very liquid and warm to the touch, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and, with a spoon, stir in the coconut and vanilla until well combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours, up to overnight.

When ready to coat the coconut, in a small heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water melt the chocolate. When almost melted, turn off the heat and let the chocolate continue to melt completely, stirring occasionally. Keep the bowl over the warm water. If you are using milk chocolate, you will need to add 1 tsp of vegetable oil while melting.

Form the balls: Line a small tray with parchment paper. Using a scant ounce of the coconut mixture, roll into a small ball and place on the parchment-paper lined tray. (I used a small scoop to form the balls, to ensure they were uniform in size). Repeat with remaining mixture, forming 18 balls.

Arrange 18 paper or foil mini-cups on the tray. Gently place one of the balls into the warm melted chocolate and, using two forks, roll the ball in the chocolate until well coated. Life (do not pierce) the coated coconut ball with one of the forks, allowing some of the chocolate to drip back into the bowl, and carefully place in one of the prepared cups. Repeat with the remaining coconut balls and melted chocolate. Refrigerate until the chocolate has hardened and use as desired.

To Prepare ahead: Through step 5, the rounds can be prepared ahead and will keep for at least 1 week, refrigerated in a covered container.

The only changes that I would make to this recipe, is to add a nut (I think macadamia would be divine) to the center of each of the coconut balls. As much as I love coconut, it's a bit too sweet and could use a little something in there. Also, once you've rolled the balls in your hands & placed back onto the parchment paper, I would refrigerate for 1/2 hour or so until they are firm to the touch. The heat from my hands made these soft when I rolled them and it was semi-disasterous when trying to roll them in chocolate. Also, I place just a tad bit of coconut on top, I think it's a little preview of what the eater can expect to find inside. I'm not sure why these are called patties, as they are clearly balls, but I'm sure they would be good too if you gave them a bit of a smush.

Hope you enjoy! Sorry for all the recipes lately. I will be sure to get back to the crafty stuff this week!!

January 19, 2007

It was 1999 and I had recently taken on a part-time job working at Williams Sonoma. I was straightening up all the cookbooks and came across the newly released "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook". It was Ina's first cookbook (unbeknownst to me at the time). I gave it a flip through and saw this picture. 'You have got to be kidding me! Are you for real?' I, of course, bought the cookbook and am happy to say that I have used it many, many times over the years. I think it's one of her most-used books, along with her Comfort Foods cookbook. I love that there are photos for nearly every recipe. And Ina, she's just soo likable. She's lovable. I love her. Ina, if things ever stop working out with Jeffrey, give me a holler. I will happily move in to your unbelievably gorgeous home in the Hampton's. Her TV show began airing in 2002, and I couldn't have been happier. All the recipes she demo's on her show, can be found in her cookbooks. In preparation for today's post, I thought I would do a little research on Ms. Garten. So with no further ado, some interesting facts:

Ina worked in the White House as a government aid and budget analyst which entailed writing the nuclear energy budget and policy papers on nuclear centrifuge plants for then-Presidents Gerald Ford & Jimmy Carter. What a smartie pants.

Meanwhile, she was buying, refurbishing, and reselling homes for profit. The funds from these sales gave Garten the means to make her next purchase, the Barefoot Contessa store in 1978 in the Hampton's. Geez- she's already amazing.

Under the guidance of her husband, Garten reemerged in 1999 with her
attention turned to the publishing industry. She carried on with the
Barefoot Contessa name in her 1999 bestseller, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook which sold over 100,000 copies it's first year.

Not long after the success of The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook and Barefoot Contessa Parties!, Garten was approached by Food Network with an offer to host her own television cooking show. She rejected this proposal several times, until the London-based production company responsible for the popular Nigella Bites was assigned to the deal. Barefoot Contessa has approximately 1 million viewers tuned in per episode, and has posted some of Food Network's highest ratings.

Martha Stewart played a large role in the early development of Garten's career, championing her store, recipes, and home décor,
going as far as to feature both Garten's home and one of her bakery
confections on 1998 and 2001 covers of her popular magazine, Martha Stewart Living.
After years of being friends and co-workers, however, the two
became bitter rivals when Stewart attempted to take credit for one of
Garten's recipes (Martha, you dirty dog!) They have reportedly mended their relationship (phew);
Stewart wrote a foreword for The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, and Garten penned several columns on entertaining and cooking for Stewart's magazine

After much critical acclaim and high sales of her first three cookbooks, she went on to write the best-selling Barefoot in Paris and several columns for O, The Oprah Magazine. She also serves as the entertaining, cooking, and party planning consultant for the magazine House Beautiful, and features a monthly Garten column entitled "Ask the Barefoot Contessa"

In 2005, she announced that she had signed a three-year contract with
Food Network to continue her cooking show, and will release two more
cookbooks following Barefoot Contessa at Home.

She has also been approached several times to develop her own branded
magazine, line of furniture, set of signature cookware, and chain of
boutiques, but has declined these offers, stating she has no interest in further complicating her life (This is why I so adore Ina). Between 2004 and 2005, Barefoot in Paris sold almost 400,000 copies and rose to the #11 slot on the New York Times bestseller list.

There. Feel like you know her a little better? Trust me, if you are new to Ina, you'll love her. Those already familiar with her know what I'm talking about. As I mentioned earlier, my favorite and most used book of Ina's is her first, self-titled book. Maybe it's because I've had it for 8 years and gotten some really good mileage out of it. I love the 'comfort food/family style' book a lot. "Parties" has some really good recipes. I haven't given 'Barefoot in Paris' as much use as I have her other books. I just made my first recipe from it this week, Lentil Sausage Soup, and of course, she didn't disappoint. The recipe can be found below. I just got her newest book, which is total eye-candy, but haven't had a chance to dive into any of the recipes yet.

If you are looking for some really wonderful recipes/cookbooks, definitely head straight to your nearest bookstore and pick something up from The Barefoot Contessa. It doesn't hurt that she is utterly adorable, personable, and I think everyone would just love to have her as a best friend. Here's to you , Ina! Thanks for years & years of wonderful recipes!I think you are pretty terrific.

This recipe originates from the Barefoot Contessa's "Barefoot in Paris" cookbook from the wonderfully talented Ina Garten. This is a hearty soup and was wonderfully filling & delicious. Here's the recipe:

Directions:In a large bowl, cover the lentils with boiling water and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Drain.

In a large stockpot over medium heat, heat the olive oil and saute
the onions, leeks, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, and cumin for 20
minutes, or until the vegetables are translucent and tender. Add the
celery and carrots and saute for another 10 minutes. Add the chicken
stock, tomato paste, and drained lentils, cover, and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 1 hour, or until the lentils
are cooked through and tender. *Check the seasonings. Add the kielbasa
and red wine and simmer until the kielbasa is hot. Serve drizzled with
olive oil and sprinkled with grated Parmesan.

This recipe makes a TON of soup. If your are serving 4 or less, I would half the recipe.

A couple of side notes: I couldn't find green lentils around these parts, so I went with the regular natural colored ones and they turned out great. *Also, when I checked the seasonings, it was good- but was missing something. I added about 5-6 good shakes of Worcestershire sauce to it and it was perfect. Also, I had never made a soup that asked you to drizzle olive oil on top. Don't skip this part- it was like icing on the cake. It tasted absolutely wonderful with it. Enjoy!

My sister tipped me off to this recipe a few years ago and it's absolutely my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Ever. The whole wheat flour gives it this wonderfully chewy consistency and you can't even tell it's made with it. I decided to mix it up a little when I made it this week, by adding in 1 cup of oatmeal and reducing the white flour to 1/2 cup. I have also made this recipe using only wheat flour (substituting the white for the wheat) and it turned out delicious as well. The original recipe hails from Allrecipes.com

January 17, 2007

Henry loves to say the word Apple. He doesn't like eating apples, never has. But boy, he sure does love pointing them out. Occasionally, we give him "appey juice", which he equally loves. On a recent road-trip home we stopped to stretch our legs and get a bite and came across an apple car. You know, the kind that you put .25 cents in to ride? Henry was totally enamored with it. Of course we put him in it and he pretended to drive it, just like the worm sitting next to him. There was one small problem. Henry would not get out of the apple. Nope, wouldn't budge. I was so happy to see written on the side of the apple that it was a "Richard Scary Apple Car". The Richard Scary books are a big deal around these parts. Hours & hours of enjoyment. There are soo many things on each and every page (including apples). We were eventually able to pry Henry out of the apple and thus, the inspiration for this painting. It's not quite finished yet, but I am hoping to do that today. I'm also hoping to have originals & prints available in my etsy shop (which sadly has been very neglected) next week sometime. I'll give you a shout-out when they are available.

It's a overcast & cloudy (I guess that's the same thing) day and so we have the Barefoot Contessa's Lentil Sausage Soup on the menu. I can't tell you how much I adore Ina Garten. So much, that I am going to dedicate an entire post to her, later this week. So I'd better stop talking now.

Today is already kind of a weird day, I think I mistakenly put my grumpy pants on. Feeling kind of irritable and weird. Typepad isn't helping. For 3 days I haven't been able to post any comments on any blogs. My own included. I've heard my site is giving some of you grief. I'm sorry. I sent a note to Typepad this morning. I've seen so many fun things out in blog land this week and am sad I am not able to post you a comment letting you know how much I adore what you are doing. I'm hopeful they'll get it worked out.

January 15, 2007

That is what they say, right? I've been having the itchies lately to paint. I haven't painted in a long time. Unless walls count. I had been held captive in corporate America for the last 12 years and ever since being relieved (as Chris likes to say) from my job last August, I find that now I have the time and energy (sometimes) to do those creative things that I used to do. Those things that I really loved doing. Like painting. It's really therapeutic, you know. And the lazy person in me really likes it because I can watch a movie or TV while I do it. It doesn't demand the exactness and full attention that something like sewing does. I'm relatively new to sewing. I only really started sewing at the beginning of last Summer (running fabric through Mom's serger at age 12 has gotta count for something, no?). I really enjoy it, but of course there is a learning curve and I feel like I'm still quite slow at it. Painting, I can do. Painting, I have experience with. Painting, you can't really screw up. There are no seam-rippers in painting. You just paint over it and call it a day. I don't know what I am rambling about. Just happy to be painting again. Even if it's an elephant balancing balls. I've kind of been going crazy for circus animals lately. I have a vintage circus tray on it's way to me, that I can't wait to get. I'll be sure to show you when it comes. Anyway- I hope you are carving out time to do those things that you're good at and that bring you joy. It really feels good to be doing this again.

January 12, 2007

Good things all around me. I picked up this beauty the other night and oh, I just love it. It's really long & skinny and has about 10 shelves in it. You know when you see something and your heart starts beating fast, really fast and you just want to have it so bad. Your life won't be the same without it? That was me with this medicine cabinet thing. Plus is was on ridiculously good sale... We are trying to get organized around these parts, which was the whole reason we went to IKEA in the first place. We were just looking for something to store all of Henrys toys in. His 'space' in our apartment consists of a small walk-in closet which houses his dresser, books and sundries which is now overflowing, thus the need to take matters into our own hands. Did we leave the store with one? No. Did we leave the store with a wicked awesome cabinet? You bet your pants we did. There's a very happy Mama in this house. It should be noted that we get a lot of mileage out of these mugs and use them nearly every night. They are our favorites.

Not much to talk about here. We just took the Christmas tree down last night, (while watching Wizard of Oz...the costumes in that movie- gah. I see a future munchkin for Halloween...) and already I'm feeling better about things. Our house just feels so much bigger, which it doesn't the other 11 months of the year. Isn't it funny how that happens? House organized = brain organized. I was getting so boggled down by extra stuff everywhere, now finally I'm able to think clearly. Phew what a relief.

Did you catch The Office? So funny, that episode. We watched it twice. Long live TiVo. We've been watching a lot of Arrested Development, too. I had forgotten about Bob Loblaw. It cracks me up every time. So sad it's off the air.

I pulled out the paint brushes and canvas earlier this week. I have really missed doing that. It's been ages. I will hopefully have something to share soon.

And, I can't stop dreaming about these and these and these. Name plates, calling cards? Genius at it's best, really. I just love the thought of it. Henry has oodles of books and I think I might have the "IKEA Medicine Cabinet Syndrome (IMCS)" with these. Hmmm.... his birthday is in May- I think it's the perfect gift for a soon-to-be 2 year old. Am I kidding myself? Yes. Henry doesn't have enough play-dates to justify calling cards. Okay, he doesn't usually have any, but maybe this should be my new excuse?

One last totally, totally random bit. If you are into board games, you really must check out this. We played it over the holiday break, and had such a fun time building railroad 'routes' all over Europe. It's for ages 8 & up so the kids can get in on all the fun, too! I think their is a US version, but who' kidding who. Europe is so much cooler.

Okay I said last bit, but was just yanking your chain.

On Tuesday, The Illusionist came out. We loved this movie (saw it twice in the theater) and am so happy that it's now out on DVD. They have a great contest going on, so pull out your best magic tricks! It's wonderfully made- the cinematography is amazing, the story is brilliant and of course, Edward Norton was fabulous. Check it out. It'll be well worth your time. I promise.